Later, the Mario family, Peach and all of their other Mushroom Kingdom friends are all there to give Luigi a proper send-off.
“Dio, where is that woman?” Mama Mario demands
“I know! She was supposed to be here 2 hours ago!” Peach agrees, but Mario’s not surprised at all.
“I knew it.”
“Maybe she had an emergency.” Mama tries to defend, but Mario just gripes, “That she faked so she could leave.”
“Announcing, Mama Molly!” Toadsworth says as the woman follows him inside.
“Hello!” She says with a smile. “Sorry, I know I’m late. I’ve been on the phone all morning.”
She takes a miraculously empty seat, “Just got a call from a new client, all the way down in Miami. I’m going to have to leave as soon as I’m done here so the client doesn’t go with someone else. And they’re not going to, because I’m the best, and they know it. And I’m practically robbing them with what they’re going to pay me if I can pull it off.”
“Oh wow, that’s amazing!” Mama praises. “Looks like Luigi’s gonna need to triple check for his tools before you two get going.”
“Actually, that’s why I’m here.” Molly says. “I may be the best, but I just got off the phone with a fellow event planner that’s exactly who I need on my team if we’re going to pull it off.”
“Aha.” Mario says, nodding. “So you’re saying that Luigi can’t come.”
“Not for this, no.” Molly says, but flinches as Mario stands, bracing for a fight.
But Mario’s not sure who’s more shocked, everyone else, Molly, or himself as he says, “Know something? Don’t worry about it. I’ll get to work on making a new pipe that’ll get Luigi straight to Miami, and that way once this big job of yours is done, you two can spend the car ride back to Brooklyn together, and you can still work together.”
Molly chuckles, “See, that’s another problem.”, and stands up. “When I say this event is big, I mean big. If I pull it off, I could get more clients across the states out of it. And in event planning, you need to be fully committed, not…half-assing it, know what I’m saying?”
“Oh trust me, I couldn’t not.” Mario crosses his arms, and Mama Mario is equally angry.
“How could you do this to my boy again, after everything?”
“But that’s the best part.” Molly smiles widely. “I was thinking I don’t have to do it at all. You can.”
Mario can’t even look at her as he turns away, hand to his face.
“Can everybody please leave us alone for a moment?”
They all start to stand up, but Papa stops to ask, “Tell me you’re not going to hit her.”, then clench his fist. “Cause I’m next in line.”
Several family members call out in agreement, and while Mario is grateful for the support, he shakes his head.
“No, I don’t need to hit her for what I have to do.”
Papa nods, then goes, but before Peach leaves, she walks up to Molly, voice deadly calm.
“If you leave now, you are no longer welcome in the Mushroom Kingdom. I’ll see to it.”
Then she leaves, and after a moment or two, it’s just the two of them.
Mario points with exactly one finger towards the couch, “Sit.”
Molly rolls her eyes, “I am not going to put up with this.”
“I said sit.” If he wasn’t so pissed, he’d marvel at how he’s not screaming at her.
To her credit, she does stop, then does as she’s told.
“Not that you actually care, but Luigi turned out better than I could’ve ever hoped, right up until you tracked him down. But now that you’ve decided to be in his life again, you can’t just throw your hands in the air and say, ‘Oh well.’, because it all goes sideways.”
“Hey.” Molly gets defensive. “I’m still going to be a part of his life!”
“No you’re not, and you know it!” Mario hates how he raises his voice, but he can’t help it. “My baby brother is not a cat you took back to the shelter because it’s not acting like a dog. He’s not responsible for your happiness and well-being, you’re responsible for his!”
“Oh shut up!” Molly yells, standing up and getting in Mario’s face. “I didn’t plan on this happening, it just did!”
She steps back a few steps, trying to explain herself, “Look, when you two came in my care, I--”
“Would you knock it off already!” Mario forces her to stop. “You think this is all about you? I was you! I had a chance to track down our family and leave Luigi with you, and no one would’ve blamed me. I had no business raising my twin brother by myself as a baby, but once I got older, I knew if I stayed, I was going to let him down over and over again. Believe me when I say I will never forgive myself for that, but even so, I still didn’t leave him. I never let him think for one second that he was on his own, even if it meant living with you or taking you to court. That’s the lengths you’re willing to go for your kids.”
“Fine! I give up!” Molly holds up her hands in surrender. “You’re clearly the better parent.”
Whatever fight Mario had left drains right out of him, and he has to step back to take a breath.
“That’s what you wanted to hear, right? Luigi has never needed anyone but you, and never will. Not even your cozy little family can come between you two.”
Mario glares at her, but says nothing, so Molly starts to walk towards the door.
But she stops, turning her head slightly to say, “Are you telling him or not?”
Mario doesn’t need to yell at her to say, “I’m not breaking his heart over you again.”
She turns her head back to the door. “Fine. I’ll leave him a letter. Think I saw a flying turtle with a mail pouch somewhere.”
“Mama!” Comes the excited call from Luigi as he comes downstairs, bags in hand. “Ready to get going?”
Mario steps back as he watches Molly freeze, clearly not expecting that.
“Hey, Luigi.” She turns with a big fake smile on her face. “Glad I caught you.”
She walks up to him and says, “Look, I just got saddled with a new client, and they don’t really need a plumber for the type of event they’re putting together. You know?”
Somehow Luigi’s entire body slumps along with his face while still remaining vertical as he nods vigorously, “That’s fine, that’s fine.”
“Just for about a month or so.” Molly tries to assure him, but Luigi’s still nodding away.
“Yeah, yeah, I totally get it.” He says in a rush.
“Maybe a few months longer..”
“No no, take your time.” Now there’s a stone-cold mask on Luigi’s face, one that only Mario can see is hiding how much he’s really hurting.
“Look, I’ll send you a letter, and we’ll work something out, yeah?”
Luigi’s still nodding like a bobble head, “Sure, of course. Whatever you say.”
Molly goes soft for a moment, then says, “I’m really proud of you, Luigi. I’m glad I came out here.”
“I’m glad too, Molly.” Luigi says calmly, the implication unmistakable.
And now it looks as though even Molly can sense she’s pushing her luck, and goes to open the door, and leaves, closing it behind her.
The dead air is heavy as Luigi keeps stares at the door for a few more seconds, before he hears behind him.
“I’m so sorry, Luigi.”
“For what?” Luigi turns around, laughing hysterically. “You know you’re helpless without me. Like I was gonna let you hoard all the money and glory for yourself. Come on.” He bends down to open one of his bags.
“Luigi, come on. You can yell at me. I can take it.”
“Yell at you? What’s to yell about?” He walks closer to Mario. “Least you didn’t step in to save me you always do.” He holds up a piece of clothing. “Only thing I have to yell about is all the money I wasted buying what the Toads called a ‘human artifact’ so they could rob me blind.” And throws it at the wall, watching it smack and fall to the floor.
Mario knows he’s useless here, but he has to say something, “Believe me, Luigi, if I could’ve done somethi—”
“No no.” Luigi cuts him off shaking his head. “For once in my entire against-all-odds pretty great life, you don’t have to do one damn thing.”
He laughs again, “Look on the bright side. I’m not a kid, so you don’t have to listen to me asking you, ‘Can we call Mama Molly?’ anymore. So ridiculous.”
Now it looks like Luigi’s getting fired up, so Mario steps back to give him some room.
“She wasn’t there when you graduated high school and trade school, but you still turned out okay, didn’t you?”
Not exactly the stance Mario thought Luigi would take, but he just plays along, “Yep, I did.”
“You got a job in construction and still found a way to put away enough for savings and give me an allowance without her help.” Luigi goes on, counting on his fingers. “You stuck it to Spike, spent our savings on the best plumbing commercial ever, you spent 12 WHOLE BIRTHDAYS without giving her a second thought, and she never reached out to you, not even once!”
He spins around, and screams as loud as he can, “VAFFANCULO!”
Now Luigi’s starting to sway on his feet a little, and Mario has to fight every urge he has to not spook him.
But then Mario hears, “You should’ve left me to find our family.”, and his heart just shatters.
“Luigi…”
“No.” Luigi snaps, turning around, walking up and grabbing Mario by the shoulders, forcing him to look him in the eye. “You listen to me. We’re going to build us a life here, we’re going to be the best fucking heroes in every damn kingdom this world has, and we’re all either of us is ever going to need, regardless of who walks in or out of our life. We never needed her, because she will never love anyone the way I love my brother!”
Mario’s almost scared to blink after a statement like that, but in the next second, it vanishes when he sees Luigi’s resolve break.
“God, Mario…” Luigi starts to tear. “What did we do?”
He doesn’t even fight the arms that grab him or pull him towards the other man’s shoulder in a hug.
And finally, Luigi doesn’t bother holding back anymore, just lets himself cry, as Mario keeps whispering quietly in his ear.
At some point everyone tries to come back in, but Mario takes one look at them and shakes his head.
Later, long after Luigi’s cried himself hoarse and Mario’s put him to bed, Mario starts to change into his pajamas when he sees the shirt Luigi threw at the wall on his bed.
He picks it up, and upon seeing what’s on it, he can only say,
“Mamma mia.”